Reducing the impact of drunken students on University Hill has bedeviled city leaders and neighborhood activists for more than a decade.

Last year, Boulder officials proposed using new land-use rules, including expanding the alcohol-free buffer zone around the University of Colorado and requiring more frequent reviews for liquor license holders not just on the Hill but also in the downtown area.

But some University Hill residents say the real problem is house parties in the neighborhoods, and they share the view of many Hill business owners that an overly restrictive approach to liquor licenses there is stifling development.

In a community survey, many residents said they feel the city has enough tools through its existing laws and doesn't need to create new regulations. They also said the city should spend less time testing the defenses of businesses that have a history of compliance and put more resources into curbing bad businesses.

The city is now proposing a new approach of focused enforcement that targets "problem" businesses, as well as measures to encourage the hosts of private parties to be more responsible.

The City Council will discuss how to "reduce community impacts from over-consumption of alcohol" at its regular meeting on Tuesday.

No 'silver bullet' solution to alcohol abuse

In a memo to City Council, officials said they planned to focus enforcement on "problem" licensed establishments and use joint inspection teams that involve police, fire, building inspectors and code enforcement, along with alcohol licensing staff.

City spokesman Patrick Von Keyserling said the city looked to its experience regulating medical marijuana, where it used a similar approach. The number of medical marijuana businesses in the city dropped, and though some business owners complained the city was too strict, officials believe the remaining businesses are good operators who take compliance seriously.

Other proposals include:

Hiring professional administrative hearing officers to rule on violations, instead of putting those cases before the Beverage Licensing Authority.

Creating a "cost-recovery" ordinance to charge hosts of private parties when police have to respond.

Exploring special "late night" licenses to hold those operators more accountable.

Creating a distinction in the zoning code between low-intensity alcohol establishments that sell food and mostly beer and wine and high-intensity establishments that sell more liquor.

"There is no one magic silver bullet to solving alcohol abuse in the community, so we are recommending a multi-pronged approach," Von Keyserling said.

Some of the changes could be done administratively if City Council approves of the ideas. Others would require ordinance changes and a public hearing.

The discussion around the community impacts of alcohol abuse has tended to focus on University Hill, with its large student population and its history of riots.

However, an analysis of liquor license violations going back to 2005 found more violations -- particularly in the form of selling to minors -- in the downtown area than on University Hill. Only a handful of businesses citywide had more than two violations in that time period, though in a few cases, business owners surrendered their licenses or transferred them to new owners rather than fight allegations.

Councilman George Karakehian, who owns a business downtown, said University Hill may not generate the most liquor code violations but it does generate the most complaints from neighbors.

He said he's heard from downtown business owners who are worried they will be swept up in new regulations that would be better targeted at the Hill.

Boulder police Alcohol Enforcement Officer Carlene Hofmann said the department already takes a similar approach to downtown and the Hill. The Hill team that was deployed on weekend nights is now the "neighborhood impact team" and puts more officers wherever they are needed on evenings when a lot of people are out drinking and socializing.

She said most of the violations brought before the liquor board are sales to minors, rather than over-service and the general conduct of the establishment, because those cases are easier to prove. And most of the sales to minors cases that go before the liquor board are the result of sting operations, she said.

Underage drinkers are often first identified by patrol officers, who may have a lot of other calls to deal with on a Friday or Saturday night. That can make follow-up investigations into whether businesses behaved irresponsibly more difficult, though Hofmann said she follows up on every confiscated fake ID.

City officials said they want to focus on more comprehensive investigations of suspected problem establishments.

"Over-service cases are difficult to investigate and prove," the memo said. "Nevertheless, over-service is a significant problem in the community. Working with the City Attorney's Office, the police department will attempt to develop effective enforcement approaches to address over-service."

Some licensees welcome more comprehensive strategy

City attorneys last year successfully painted K's China as a business with a pattern of serving minors, despite not having previous liquor license violations. The liquor board suspended K's license for 15 days and put strict new rules on the business, including barring it from serving its signature "volcano" drink special.

Owner Bo Mai said he felt singled out by the city and said officers never demonstrated that the IDs being used by underage drinkers should have been caught as fakes.

Von Keyserling said city officials believe the liquor board provided adequate due process to Mai, and the move to hearing officers isn't meant to impugn the work done by that body. Longmont, Greeley, Loveland, Fort Collins and Erie all use hearing officers to rule on alleged liquor license violations. The Beverage Licensing Authority would continue to rule on applications for liquor licenses and renewals.

Ryan Shorter, owner of Cosmo's Pizza and the "no name" bar attached to it, said he used to see plain-clothes officers in his bar, observing the general conduct of the establishment. Now, they test his doormen with underage buyers. Shorter said he trains his employees to always check ID, but it's inevitable that someone will eventually make a mistake.

Shorter said he'd welcome a more comprehensive approach to enforcement.

"Wouldn't it be better if they were actually seeing if people were being over-served?" he said. "I feel like there could be a different way to use their resources."

In a letter to City Council, Mark Heinritz, owner of The Sink, noted that there are more liquor license holders on the Hill now than a decade ago, but more businesses close early and they're serving fewer customers.

He said the use review process for businesses that want to stay open past 11 p.m. has had the intended effect of limiting late-night service, as well as the unintended one of driving away potential new business.

He said he supported most of the proposed changes, but he also called on the city to do more toward revitalization of the Hill.

"Attracting new business to the Hill is a big challenge, and it will require firm support from the city," he wrote. "Additional or more restrictive regulations will not help support the Hill."

Rowdy partying seen as shifting to neighborhoods

Brian Barrett, a Realtor who has lived on University Hill for 10 years, said the problems with "roving gangs" of drunken students is worse than it used to be.

"There's been a very small group that is a vocal minority that has power with the city, and they've done everything they can to shut down legitimate bar/restaurant operations. In doing so, they've shifted the partying out into the neighborhoods."

Barrett pointed to the former Flatirons Theater, where the city rejected a "brew and view" proposal, only to end up with a pot shop in the location for several years.

Mark Kovach, another University Hill resident, said he travels regularly to New Orleans and sees nicer, quieter neighborhoods a few blocks from Bourbon Street than he sees in his own Boulder neighborhood.

They pointed to what they called a "prohibitionist" element in the University Hill neighborhood, particularly in Beverage Licensing Authority board member Lisa Spalding.

Spalding, who advocated revoking K's China's license, said she didn't want to comment on alcohol policy because of her position on the Beverage Licensing Authority, but she rejected the idea that she is a "prohibitionist."

" I think that as a community we have a responsibility to create a safe environment that encourages socializing and the legal and responsible use of alcohol but discourages illegal and dangerous drinking," she said in an email. "I think many of the licensed establishments in Boulder feel the same way and run their businesses accordingly. We do, however, have occasional problems with businesses that find it easier to make money by serving minors and over-serving their patrons."

Spalding said the charge of prohibitionism is "made by a small number of people who either do not support state liquor laws or find it more lucrative to break them."

Stephen Schein, the co-owner of Half-Fast Subs on University Hill, said he has no problem with the city holding alcohol-serving establishments to high standards and pulling the license of irresponsible operators.

He said the city's approach of restricting late-night service in particular has damaged the business potential of the neighborhood.

"You have a lot of vacancies in a thriving, bustling town like Boulder right across from a major American university," he said.

Business owners have a lot more at stake than the hosts of house parties, he said.

Those business owners, he said, are "the only people with a vested interest in making sure alcohol gets served responsibly."